Distraction
by Masked Vendetta
Summary: Exams - the bane of every teen’s existence. This is a feeling Roxas is far too well accustomed too, and it’s not helped by his stress levels or his inability to focus. It's all Tomorrow's Fault. And Axel's… Akuroku One-shot!


To all those suffering from exam stress and feeling more than a little bored-outta-their-minds/stuck in a downward spiral.

**Disclaimer:** I own very little - humble arts students here! - least of all Kingdom Hearts or the rights to its characters.

Damn, I feel for Roxas right now…

Enjoy!

* * *

Amused, Roxas was not.

The blond was known for his normal deadpan personality and lack of any facial movement, but even by his standards he was bored out of his mind with stress. The monotony of reading the same line twice over - because for the love of everything unholy he couldn't focus at all today - had slowly but surely driven him to wear the darkest expression know to mankind to date. He'd probably shatter glass if he looked at a mirror; his torment was that bad.

Roxas was known for his expressions, of lack of. When someone cracked a joke – it was normally Sora, who was far too happy for his own good and liked tying to spread that happiness onto un-wanting victims, such as his younger brother - Roxas never outwardly smiled or laughed along with the rest of his friends; it just wasn't who he was. But on the inside, in that tiny corner of his heart that hadn't turned black and icy and stereotypically emo, Roxas could allow himself a smile or a chuckle if the humour actually held any funny – those occurrences normally came from a sarcastic remark ala Axel.

Sora, said older and not-always-funny brother, would often chide him for never being happy, and Roxas didn't help matters by replying with a short 'hn' or 'heh' or a glower before retreating to his room. No one seemed to understand that Roxas just didn't smile. He just wasn't like that, and even he himself was in the dark as to why. He'd just never really felt the need; as long as he felt happy in that tiny little place within his mind, he didn't need to broadcast it.

(Thinking about it, if he suddenly started smiling and laughing and splitting his sides, his friends would probably be more concerned than they were now. Out-of-characterness often sprouted concern that way. Like that one time when Zexion had, totally out of the blue, walked up to Demyx one day in the Library, flushed bright red and then proclaimed, far more loudly that he probably indented, that he loved the blond.

Ok, so they were both now living a happily-ever-after, but Roxas OCCness would defiantly not work out that way; so he didn't test it).

So, yes, Roxas rarely showed emotion, and when he did it was a special occasion - Like a birthday when you _had _to smile else Aunty Nora would pinch your cheeks, or when Riku got totalled playing football, or when Axel's cheepo eyeliner smudged in the rain. Today, however, was worse than normal. Even if the pastey, pale haired slut had been run over by a car – yes, Roxas had a grudge on the prat, leave him alone. It would all be fine if it wasn't obvious that Riku wanted Sora's pants off of Sora and was secretly more perverted than Axel – Roxas doubted he'd do anything more than glare.

Today, by Roxas standards, was crap. And it was all tomorrow's fault.

Well, Tomorrow, and Axel…

For you see, tomorrow was _Doomsday_ in Roxas mind, the apocalypse of his life, then end of his future plans spanning any further than twenty-four-hours. Tomorrow, a Friday – it may as well had been the thirteenth, for all the boy cared – was Exam Day. And by Exam Day, I mean it in the plural sense of _four_.

Two English, two Computing, each an hour and a half long. Now, Roxas dropped maths after GCSE for a reason, but even_ he_ could figure out exactly how long those damn test papers would take. He'd be at school from nine, when Computing started, all the way up until 4:40, when English finally ended – there was minimal breaks in between, but they were hardly any consolation. But Roxas had normally left school at 3:30 and was home no later than four…

You realise now why he can't even think of trying to smile?

Yes, Roxas was not amused.

One would expect Roxas Strife, younger brother to both Sora and Cloud Strife – who ran his own business, as well as being a stupidly-devoted-perfectionist, so was gifted in this particular area – to be very organised. Admittedly, Sora's bedroom wasn't exactly prim and proper (think Teenage Nuclear Bomb Site covered in Band/Game posters in some vague attempt to hide the distraction) and his homework wasn't always handed in on time, but he knew how to plan a party and get his friends organised, even if he couldn't do that with himself. Cloud was…well, it was scary how much planning he put into everything. Roxas was quite sure the older blond even planned conversations half the time, scripting them and reciting them in front of the mirror before facing his victim.

Roxas seemed to have picked up on both of his big brothers habits - as well as his mothers cooking skills, but that wasn't apparent - and so his bedroom was untidy, but it was untidy in a way that he knew where everything was, and his homework was in on time, though just barely. The boy didn't really go to parties on his own accord (he was dragged there) so planning one had never been a problem for him. Simply put: he didn't.

And it seemed, according to the last few weeks, that revision fell into his laid-back Sora-side of leaving everything until the last minute.

AS levels… God, Roxas hated them. It had been fine a week ago; he'd been carefree and enjoying life in his deadpan, leave-me-alone-else-I'll-spork-you're-spleen-and–gauge-your-eyes-out-and-AXEL-GET-YOUR-HANDS-OFF-MY-ARSE sort of way. He'd been smiling on the inside, at least. But then, it dawned on him. Dawned on him like a shock that brought you out in a cold sweat and left you panting.

_I've got a week! **One week**!_

Using his more Cloud-like organisation skills, Roxas had quickly found all of the revision guides he'd spent an arm and a leg on at the beginning of the year – one was under his bed, another two rammed down the back of his desk in a far-off hope that they would magically disappear taking Roxas' troubles with them – and then made camp on the dinning room table, student snack meals and all. Finally, with one week to go, he opened his Revision Guides for the first time, fully prepared to cram until his eyes bled and he came out with straight-goddamn-As!

Enter Axel.

Axel - the older, more artsy, drawingy, gimme-a-brush-and-I'll-paint-anything-for-you-as-long-as-it's-red-and-includes-fire!, University Student - had known Roxas for years. They'd met too long ago to remember, in circumstances involving Yuffie, who'd been on sugar (a least she'd said it was sugar), and so Roxas didn't like to try and recall their first meeting. However, the years that followed he did recall, as did Axel. It was due to these years that the elder student understood Roxas' blank expression, and how he also knew ways to release the building stress he saw behind the other boy's eyes that no one else had seemed to notice. So, Axel, having figured Roxas needed to relax, dragged him from his home and paraded him around town as if Roxas was one of his works.

And Roxas had had fun, because he always did with Axel. Hell, there had to be some reason why he'd been roped into dating the guy, and the blond was willing to settle upon the carefree, fun loving, almost dare-devil attitude that the pryo ran off of. The dark sense of humour and endless supply of sarcasm to match Roxas' own made everything a little too perfect, and Roxas relished it.

Over the course of the week while Roxas set about learning his Syllabus' all over again, Axel visited, joked with Sora at the door, ate cookies or muffins that were offered to him by the brunette woman of the household, and then dragged Roxas out of his little Revision cubby hole. They'd gone to their favourite cafes, eating and drinking too much expensive stuff that Roxas was sure was going straight to his thighs; they'd watched too many movies, ignoring time as it tick-tocked in the background; and they'd just sat in the park, enjoying the approaching summer weather that called for Axel to desert his accustomed black skinnies in favour of cut-offs (still black, because the fiery red-head couldn't kick the habit, though he'd whined for an hour about it anyway). Roxas had shut up him by way of mouth-to-mouth contact and a mother across the green green grass by the pond had screamed at them…

And Roxas had had fun, because it was Axel and he understood and he was funny and carefree and perverted and Roxas loved the guy, damnit, no matter what his expression said.

Then Thursday had arrived. Thursday, as in, the day chosen to be before Friday. Friday, as in, the day wherein Roxas was going to be cooped up at a two-by-two desk writing until his hand fell off and his brain started oozing out of his ears for an entire day.

And then Roxas realised with a jolt that he'd done _no revision_.

_Oh…**crap!**_

Stress levels soaring, he'd skipped school to revise. Hell, he only had one lesson anyway, what was the point of walking a whole mile to school in this drizzle (because for some reason summer had suddenly departed again, just his luck) only to be told the obvious _'Revise, kiddies!'_, to then walk back, probably getting soaked to the bone in the process and ending up sneezing all through the day tomorrow? He should be on study leave anyway, if his school had planned everything properly; this was a deserved day off!

The doorbell had rung about an hour after Sora had blown a raspberry and bounced out the door to meet Riku at the garden gate – _''Don't go slacking, Roxas!''_ - leaving Roxas alone in the house. His mom had left for work before Sora today, and Cloud had disappeared an hour before on what he had called an 'Early Delivery' but what Roxas knew as a visit to Leon/Squall/Whatever-the-hell-the-blokes-name-was. So Roxas was alone. But that was good, really, he could focus when he was on his own, he could ignore any distractions and get some serious cramming done.

Apart from the fact that the doorbell_ kept_ ringing, and after he'd ignored it for five minutes, his phone started ringing too, blaring _Redemption_ through the dining room. And Roxas had tried to ignore the distractions, he really had, but he'd been working for over an hour anyway, and what did they say about breaks every twenty minutes…? So the teenager reached for his phone.

_Axel,_ read the caller ID. _Axel is calling you to invite you out again because he somehow knows you're home and has no school commitments himself – stupid Uni' student who's already finished his exams,_ read Roxas' mind.

Reluctantly, and with great effort, Roxas rose from his stiff-backed Dinning Chair with a groan as his back cricked in three separate places, before moving to open the door, rubbing his spine. Unsurprisingly he was greeted by Axel, read hair forever blazing, green eyes flashing with tease, smirk impish and confident, and phone held loosely against his ear.

''Ah, Roxie! Sora said you were in.'' Oh, so that's how the pyro knew Roxas was here and not where he was suppose to be?

''Yeah yeah, close the door behind you.'' The boy flicked his aching wrist, sore from note taking, and turned back into his home, indicating for Axel to follow. The redhead did, making himself at home by kicking off his boots, leaving them haphazardly thrown across the hallway, and throwing his lightweight hoodie onto the sofa as he ended the call to Roxas' mobile still singing from the table. _Redemption_ shut up, and Gackt's voice faded away.

''You're still at it? Seriously, man…'' Roxas rolled his eyes and sat back down at his chair, giving Axel a long dull look.

''My exams are tomorrow, idiot, of course I'm still revising.''

''But, you're a bright kid, why even bother?'' The pyro asked, quiet perplexed as he sauntered up behind the blonde and peering at one of the Revision books splayed seemingly at random across the busy table. ''I never revised, not once! Look at me now!'' Roxas snorted, stifling a small laugh, gaining a whine in return.

''That wasn't fair, Roxie!'' The older boy pouted. Roxas waved the look away with a leisurely flick of his hand before picking up a book again, Axel still peering over his shoulder. Notebooks lay strewn all across the table, alongside them pens, pencils, rubbers, a snapped ruler, a calculator missing the On/Off button, and old coffee mugs which were hidden about here and there. Then came the exclamation, breaking the quiet buzz of silence: ''What the hell is this?!'' If one looked closely, they could see the resident Fire Expert's eyes spinning.

''Oh, That?'' Roxas snorted and flipped the book shut dismissively flashing a Binary-covered cover. ''Computing...and a pain in the arse.'' He sighed slightly. ''I'm sick of this.''

''Aha!'' A triumphant grin appeared on the Artists face, no longer confused by the complicated numbers scrawled across the page he'd looked at not a moment before. ''That's why I'm here!'' Roxas glared as the grin morphed into a dangerous smirk, and Axel's voice dropped an octave or two as it suddenly appeared by his ear.

''…To distract you…''

''No, Axel!'' The boy growled in response, nudging his boyfriend away forcefully. ''I _need_ to _revise_!''

''But you've been revising all week.'' Axel protested loudly, throwing a hand at the books covering the table cloth. Roxas' mum had complained about that…quiet a bit, actually. They'd been eating TV meals for the passed week because of the mess, and she wasn't happy about having to search for fly away crisp packets or chocolate wrappers after Roxas got the munchies…

''But that's the thing.'' Roxas spoke, standing again to try and gain at least some height on his redheaded nuisance. 'Nuisance', because Roxas preferred the term to 'Boyfriend', and it fit better right now anyway. ''I haven't done _any_. _You_ keep _abducting me_!''

''Oh…!'' Axel paused, an uncharacteristic thoughtful expression washing over his features for a moment. ''Well then…I guess…'' Roxas frowned, just like he always did. A frown was easy to pull off, far more so than a smile. Roxas could frown or glare at the outside world, because that's all it was worth. Smiling was more difficult, more personal, in some ways. If you showed someone that you were happy, they could only use that happiness to get to you…

''I could _keep_ distracting you.''

''What?! _Axel_, don't you d-''

Of course, when ones mouth is currently being molested by one's boyfriend's mouth, it's hard to keep on speaking. And, when one's boyfriend is one particularly skilful Axel, then thought also kinda…stops…slightly…

From there on out, everything relied purely on instinct. It wasn't a thing that could be taught – well, not really – or learnt from a stupid book that'd killed far too many tress for its cause. No, it was all impulsive, reckless and spontaneous. So when Roxas felt hands around his hips he didn't mind, and when he wrapped his own around the older boy's neck he was glad he heard the moan of encouragement, and when he felt that velvet tongue against his own, he didn't care if he felt himself smile, just slightly.

It was Axel, after all, Axel who understood and who knew how to make him smile, so this was fine.

Hell, he was allowed a break, right?

* * *

Needless to say, Roxas never did get any revision done.

* * *

Ok, I highly suspect that there's a TON of spelling errors and grammatical inaccuracies, and most likely some random words in there that my fuzz-worthy eyes couldn't pick up, but I've written, proofread, and shoved this online within...two hours (while trying to revise myself). So, forgive me...?

It's inspired by my own current predicament that I felt the need to inflict on someone else aka Roxas. Yes, I do have four AS level exams tomorrow, and yes, I am NOT revising like I should be - this proves it. But my muse suddenly returned from a month-long trip to god-knows-where and then hit me with something very hard straight in the head, so I had to write it (else I'd have Akuroku on the brain and I really WOULD phail my exams tomorrow…)

Just wish I had an Axel to come bug me X3 hehehe

On another note: OMGawd! I rambled out a one-shot under 3000 words!!


End file.
